Name: Tomato Sauce
Ingredients: 6 shalots, sliced; 1/3 cup vinegar; herbs (to taste); 6 tomatoes, bruised; sugar (to taste)

Why it works: Vinegar and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Boil the sliced shallots with herbs and vinegar for 5 minutes.
Add the bruised tomatoes and some sugar.
Stir and boil for another 5 minutes.
Pass the mixture through a coarse strainer.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Vinegar + tomatotop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,063 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Tomato + sugartop 33% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,667 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Shallots (in the method): Soften and add savory aromatic flavor to the sauce base.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the tomato flavor and balances sweetness.
Tomatoes: Provide the main body, moisture and flavor of the sauce.